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Now I See
"This man’s life should be depicted as a hopeless tragedy. While he later shows himself to be spiritually astute, his day-to-day life enjoyed none of the protection or charitable assistance often given to the blind today. We have to forget images of seeing-eye dogs and Braille books. He sat at the roadside and begged. No employment, no prospects for marriage, no social honor. He was at the bottom of the social ladder. His future was bleak and he knew it. He was like the paralytic of chapter 5, only worse. This man’s world had foreclosed on him. There was no social net to catch people like this.
This hopelessness and darkness provide us with a potent image because John describes men and women without Christ to be in a crisis no less desperate. In 8:12 and 12:35 Jesus refers to those who “walk in darkness,” and this is precisely the condition of the blind. They stumble and get lost. Jesus lifts this image above the commonplace in order to make it a spiritual metaphor for the condition of the world that he has come to remedy.
The glory of this man’s healing stands in stark contrast with the desperation of his condition. Jesus did not simply give him sight; he gave him life." [1] (emphasis mine)
I love verse 25:
"Whether he is a sinner I do not know. One thing I do know, that though I was blind, now I see."
He speaks of his physical healing, but from what we've read in John so far, we know that his words are dripping with further meaning that he doesn't even understand. Amen!
Now I See
"This man’s life should be depicted as a hopeless tragedy. While he later shows himself to be spiritually astute, his day-to-day life enjoyed none of the protection or charitable assistance often given to the blind today. We have to forget images of seeing-eye dogs and Braille books. He sat at the roadside and begged. No employment, no prospects for marriage, no social honor. He was at the bottom of the social ladder. His future was bleak and he knew it. He was like the paralytic of chapter 5, only worse. This man’s world had foreclosed on him. There was no social net to catch people like this.
This hopelessness and darkness provide us with a potent image because John describes men and women without Christ to be in a crisis no less desperate. In 8:12 and 12:35 Jesus refers to those who “walk in darkness,” and this is precisely the condition of the blind. They stumble and get lost. Jesus lifts this image above the commonplace in order to make it a spiritual metaphor for the condition of the world that he has come to remedy.
The glory of this man’s healing stands in stark contrast with the desperation of his condition. Jesus did not simply give him sight; he gave him life." [1] (emphasis mine)
I love verse 25:
"Whether he is a sinner I do not know. One thing I do know, that though I was blind, now I see."
He speaks of his physical healing, but from what we've read in John so far, we know that his words are dripping with further meaning that he doesn't even understand. Amen!
[1] Gary M. Burge, NIV Application Commentary: John (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House, 2000), 279-80.
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